We last heard from the HTC EVO Shift 4G / HTC Knight / HTC Speedy last week when it popped up in a new series of accessory shots. It was a safe bet that we would soon be seeing more of Sprint’s HTC Desire Z iteration, and the weekend provided two new tidbits. The first is a new image of the device — the first clear image where we can see its four-line QWERTY keypad. The image shows the phone sitting in a protective case that adds some bulk, however, but picture a shrunken EVO 4G with a sliding QWERTY and you’re good to go. The second piece of the puzzle that may have fallen into place over the weekend is a release date: January 9th. This is pretty close to the date we reported back in October — January 6th — and it falls in line with Sprint’s tendency to launch new devices on Sundays. Our date, which also happens to be the first day of CES next month, is likely when we’ll see this puppy announced.

Hit the jump for a screen shot that supports the January 9th release date. More →

An excited HTCPedia Shop just emailed us several times to show off a handful of new HTC Knight images it received from one of its suppliers. The HTC Knight — also known as the HTC Speedy, and rumors suggest it could launch as the HTC EVO Shift 4G — is a forthcoming Android smartphone for Sprint. Specs posted along with these newly leaked images jibe with our report from last month, suggesting the device will feature a 3.7-inch display, a slide-out QWERTY keypad and WiMAX connectivity. Our report also suggested the device will include an 8-megapixel camera, a 1GHz processor and the Android 2.2 OS, though hopefully HTC will soon have Sense running on Gingerbread and an update won’t be far off. Hit the jump for a few more images. More →

Now, we realize that this isn’t a shot of the actual handset’s release date, but hey, people have to get their cases on launch day, too! One of our Sprint sources sent us in a photo of the HTC Knight’s accessory list sheet, and the case for the HTC handset is set to launch on January 6th. We have also been told there is a good chance the phone will come to market as the HTC Speedy. No, we’re not kidding. Plus, do you know what day January 6th is, friends? It’s the first day of CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. Yeah, we’d pretty much guarantee this release date now. The HTC Speedy was pictured earlier in the day if you’re interested in seeing what it looks like.